A prolific supporting player for over five decades, Harry Dean Stanton inspired film critic Roger Ebert to declare, "No movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad." Of course, there were a few misfires along the way, but most were redeemed by the actor's strength for playing haggard men with battered souls. Stanton was well-liked and utilized by some of modern cinema's most visionary directors including Sam Peckinpah, David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, Sean Penn and Wim Wenders. It was Wenders who launched Stanton's late career breakout when he cast him in an acclaimed leading role in "Paris, Texas" (1984), but prior to that quietly haunting performance, Stanton spent 25 years playing hard-bitten outlaws in notable films like "Cool Hand Luke" (1967), "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" (1973) and "The Rose" (1979). Stanton was transformed into a wizened cult figure of the American indie film scene with "Repo Man" (1984), "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988), and "She's So Lovely" (1996) - to say nothing of his fatherly turn in "Pretty in Pink" (1986) and his unforgettable role as one of the doomed Nostromo crew of "Alien" (1979). A restless,...

A prolific supporting player for over five decades, Harry Dean Stanton inspired film critic Roger Ebert to declare, "No movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad." Of course, there were a few misfires along the way, but most were redeemed by the actor's strength for playing haggard men with battered souls. Stanton was well-liked and utilized by some of modern cinema's most visionary directors including Sam Peckinpah, David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, Sean Penn and Wim Wenders. It was Wenders who launched Stanton's late career breakout when he cast him in an acclaimed leading role in "Paris, Texas" (1984), but prior to that quietly haunting performance, Stanton spent 25 years playing hard-bitten outlaws in notable films like "Cool Hand Luke" (1967), "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" (1973) and "The Rose" (1979). Stanton was transformed into a wizened cult figure of the American indie film scene with "Repo Man" (1984), "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988), and "She's So Lovely" (1996) - to say nothing of his fatherly turn in "Pretty in Pink" (1986) and his unforgettable role as one of the doomed Nostromo crew of "Alien" (1979). A restless, unconventional spirit off-camera, Stanton always lent a sympathetic realness to the menacing criminals and barroom-dwelling outsiders he stashed beneath his craggy face and wiry, worn frame.

Played a soft-hearted, but ill-fated private investigator in David Lynch's "Wild at Heart"

1992:

Starred in David Lynch's "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me"

1996:

Co-starred in ABC miniseries "Larry McMurtry's 'Dead Man's Walk'"

1998:

Appeared in the feature adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" for Terry Gilliam

1999:

Cast in "The Green Mile" for director Frank Darabont

2001:

Played opposite Jack Nicholson in "The Pledge" for director Sean Penn

2005:

Appeared in "The Wendell Baker Story" for Andrew and Luke Wilson

2006:

Cast as Roman Grant, the prophet of the Juniper Creek compound on HBO drama series "Big Love"

2006:

Reteamed with director David Lynch to star in "Inland Empire"

2009:

Played the Caterpillar in SyFy fantasy miniseries "Alice"

2011:

Voiced Balthazar in Gore Verbinski's animated feature "Rango"

2012:

Made cameo in superhero blockbuster "The Avengers"

2012:

Cast in ensemble crime comedy "Seven Psychopaths"

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Education

Lafayette High School:
-

University of Kentucky:
Lexington , Kentucky -

Pasadena Playhouse:
Pasadena , California -

Notes

"After all these years, I finally got the part I wanted to play. If I never did another film after 'Paris, Texas' I'd be happy." --Harry Dean Stanton in press kit for "Dream a Little Dream"

"I think younger actors have it better today. I think that, traditionally, actors have been second class citizens on a lot of levels. However, since the breakup of the major studios, things have started loosening up ... today's young actors have more freedom." --Harry Dean Stanton

"I made it a point not to graduate [from college]. I thought that was a positive, independent kind of statement. I never liked being ordered around--which, of course, was an overreaction. I eventually found out that I didn't mind being ordered around at all when it was by someone who knew what he was doing." --Harry Dean Stanton in a 1986 interview in The New York Times Magazine.

"I sure wish I had matured earlier. There was such a long period in my life when I was struggling to bloom, and, as a result, I did a lot of stupid things ... To put it mildly, I was just a very late bloomer. It was Eastern mysticism that began to help me. Alan Watt's books on Zen Buddhism were a very strong influence. Taoism and Lao-tse, I read much of, along with the works of Krishnamurti. And I studied tai chi, the martial arts which is about centering oneself." --Harry Dean Stanton in a 1986 interview in The New York Times Magazine.